1999 election records shredder-bound?

We'd rather not bring up the fact that the Harris Tories were re-elected a year ago this week.

But as of June 3, the province's chief election officer, Warren Bailie, will have the discretion to destroy all election records. And that's not good, since citizens and the opposition want an inquiry into the problem-plagued 99 contest.

Ontario's former deputy attorney general, Michael Code, along with U of T political science professor Graham White and others, has requested that Bailie retain all files.

"Given that this issue is very seriously before the legislature and before the public... we feel very strongly that he should retain them," says Code.

The group charge that the problem in the last election wasn't that folks didn't show up to work at polling stations, but that "systemic discrimination" kept scores of citizens off the voters list. For the moment, however, Bailie says he has no plans to destroy records.